Best tv shows like This Is England '88
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set during Christmas 1988, Lol is haunted by the devastating events that took place two and a half years before. She and Woody both find themselves struggling to cope with their lives without each other after he leaves the gang. Lol is carrying the burden of her guilt, whilst Woody is trying to build a domestic life with a new girlfriend and a potential promotion at work. Shaun has started drama college and, although still in a relationship with Smell, he has grown close to a girl performing in his Christmas play.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: touching, rough, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, retro, gloomy, period drama, masterpiece
Best tv shows and movies like This Is England '88 (2011):
Similar in 80%
Minder (1979)
Plot Summary:
Minder is a British comedy-drama series about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV. The show ran for ten series between 29 October 1979 and 10 March 1994, and starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, an honest and likable bodyguard and George Cole as Arthur Daley, a socially ambitious, but highly unscrupulous importer-exporter, wholesaler, used-car salesman, and anything else from which there was money to be made whether inside the law or not. The show was largely responsible for putting the word minder, meaning personal bodyguard, into the UK and Australian popular lexicon. The characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave acted, often unwillingly, as a message machine for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals. The series was notable for using a range of leading British actors, as well as many up-and-coming performers before they hit the big time; at its peak was one of ITV's biggest ratings winners. In 2008, it was announced that Minder would go into production for broadcast in 2009 for a new version, although none of the original cast would appear in the new episodes. The new show focused on Arthur's nephew, Archie, played by Shane Richie. The series began broadcast on 4 February 2009. In 2010, it was announced that no further episodes would be made following lukewarm reception to the first series.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sitcom, comedy drama, humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat
Similar in 85%
A Very Peculiar Practice (1986)
Plot Summary:
A young and idealistic Doctor Stephen Daker arrives at Lowlands University to work at the Health Centre, but has to cope with an eccentric set of colleagues.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 540
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: surreal, dark comedy, touching, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Brassic (2019)
Plot Summary:
A group of working-class friends finding unconventional ways to win at life in northern suburbia. These lads have dealt, scammed, bribed and conned their way through adolescence, but now, on the brink of adulthood, their dealing and stealing is catching up with them and a whole load of trouble is heading their way.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, humorous, funny, dark comedy
Similar in 77%
The Professionals (1977)
Plot Summary:
The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, controversial
Similar in 82%
Heartbeat (1992)
Plot Summary:
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: crime drama, detective, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, period drama
Similar in 75%
Z Cars (1962)
Plot Summary:
Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: detective, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Public Enemies (2012)
Plot Summary:
Drama exploring the relationship between a convicted murderer and his probation officer.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 757
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, detective, gloomy, masterpiece
Similar in 85%
Mrs Biggs (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Charmian Biggs (née Powell), the rebellious product of a strict 1950s upbringing, and her whirlwind romance with Ronald Biggs leading to a descent into crime, most infamously 1963's Great Train Robbery.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 848
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, stylized, touching, realistic, period drama
Similar in 90%
This Is England '86 (2010)
Plot Summary:
This Is England '86 is a 2010 British drama miniseries written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, a spin-off from the 2006 film This Is England. Shaun has just finished his final exams and he realizes he is no longer a kid. It's mid 80's England, a World Cup summer, and the gang are back, looking for a laugh, a job, and something that resembles a future.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, disturbing, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, retro, rough
Similar in 82%
The Runaway (2010)
Plot Summary:
Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty are brought up together in the East End. As the daughter of a prostitute, Madge, Cathy's life is difficult, especially when everyone assumes that she will be following in her mother's footsteps. But when Cathy is forced to protect Madge from a violent attack by a punter it changes her life forever. Cathy is taken into care but she suffers institutional abuse which leaves her with no choice but to run away. She ends up destitute, on the streets of Soho. Desrae, a transvestite, unexpectedly comes to her rescue.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 936
Genere: Crime
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, psychological, captivating, period piece, rough, emotional, realistic, stylized
Similar in 87%
This Is England '90 (2015)
Plot Summary:
Following on from This Is England ’86 and ‘88, this much-anticipated final chapter finds the gang embracing the rave scene of a new decade. But the utter hilarity and unadulterated joy of the second ‘summer of love’ soon gives way to a war torn winter. As the stark reality of life takes hold and, ultimately, takes life.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, retro, rough, bleak, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 79%
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982)
Plot Summary:
Alan Bleasdale's hugely acclaimed mini-series echoes the misery and despair of long-term unemployment. Set in Liverpool, these profoundly moving human dramas follow in turn the attempts of five working-class heroes to survive.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Oliver Twist (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on Charles Dickens' novel, this adaptation traces the childhood of an orphan whose mother dies giving birth to him in an English work-house in the 1820s.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 829
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 386 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 87%
Bleak House (2005)
Plot Summary:
A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 510 min
Plot tags: captivating, costume drama, bleak, serious, period piece, historical drama, suspense, educational, realistic, mysterious
Similar in 88%
The Outcast (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in post-war Britain, ten year-old Lewis Aldridge is grief-stricken as he struggles to cope with the death of his beloved mother. Left under the care of his emotionally distant father Gilbert, whom he barely knows and who quickly remarries, Lewis is forced to bury his feelings.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, atmospheric, psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 81%
White Heat (2012)
Plot Summary:
A story about a group of seven London-based students from 1965 to the present day.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, family saga, saga
Similar in 88%
Shameless (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, emotional, realistic, cynical, captivating, sitcom, hilarious, erotic, feel good, social
Similar in 85%
The Mill (2013)
Plot Summary:
Powerful historical drama series, based on the lives of real people, telling the story of young 19th-century apprentices taking their lives into their own hands for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, psychological, rough, period piece, costume drama, grim, historical drama
Similar in 77%
A Passionate Woman (2010)
Plot Summary:
1950's, Leeds: Betty (Billie Piper) is a wife and mother, whose life is changed forever after falling hopelessly and dangerously in love with her charismatic Polish neighbour, Alex Crazenovski, better known as Craze . Against her principles, she soon abandons herself to a world of untapped thrills and passion, a world that has been so desperately missing from her own conventional and claustrophobic marriage. But 30 years later, an older Betty (Sue Johnston) comes to realise that her compulsive passion of the past and its consequences have created ripples that spill far into the future, finally reaching crisis point on her beloved son s wedding day.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 90%
Awaydays (2009)
Plot Summary:
On the Wirral in the grim early years of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, the opportunities for thrill seeking young men looking to escape 9 to 5 drudgery are what they've always been: sex, drugs, rock n' roll, fashion, football and fighting.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 83%
The Navigators (2001)
Plot Summary:
In South Yorkshire, a small group of railway maintenance men discover that because of privatization, their lives will never be the same. When the trusty British Rail sign is replaced by one reading East Midland Infrastructure, it is clear that there will be the inevitable winners and losers as downsizing and efficiency become the new buzzwords.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Germany, Spain
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, social, bleak, gloomy, thought provoking
Similar in 76%
Siberian Education (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, realistic, suspense, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 75%
This Is England (2006)
Plot Summary:
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 127000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: emotional, political, depressing, stylized, harsh, rough, cult classic, social, tense, sincere
Similar in 81%
Run (2013)
Plot Summary:
Four gritty no-holds-barred human stories of the streets, all linked together in some respect.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, hood
Similar in 78%
Life of Crime (2013)
Plot Summary:
A female cop becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer of a 15-year-old girl, and hunts him over the course of her 28 year career in the force.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, detective, period piece, rough, serious
Similar in 83%
City of Men (2002)
Plot Summary:
City of Men is a Brazilian television programme created by Kátia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, the directors of the film City of God. The series was watched by 35 million viewers in Brazil and was released internationally on DVD shortly after the film. In 2007, a feature length film based on the series was released. It is often cited as a 'spin-off' of the film; City of Men is a less violent and more light-hearted affair with dramedy elements. However, the two do share some common aspects: the directors, some of the actors, and the setting of the Brazilian favela with its background of gangsters and poverty. The programme tells the stories of Luis Claudío and Uolace, better known by their nicknames Acerola and Laranjinha, respectively, who are two best friends who live in a notorious Rio slum, in a community of drug-dealers, hustlers, and teenagers struggling to fulfill their dreams.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: stylized, atmospheric, rough, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
Traffik (1989)
Plot Summary:
Traffik is a 1989 British television serial about the illegal drugs trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Afghan and Pakistani growers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was based on this television serial. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries Traffic was based on both versions.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 315 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, thought provoking, disturbing, rough, bleak, political, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
South Riding (2011)
Plot Summary:
Andrew Davies sparkling adaption of Winifred Holtby's acclaimed novel. Insightful, warm and full of memorable characters, South Riding tells a fraught love story and paints a panaromic portrait of a Yorkshire community in the long aftermath of the First World War.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: touching, captivating, emotional, realistic, historical drama, period piece, costume drama, serious, stylized, period drama
Similar in 76%
Top Boy (2011)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling and raw crime drama following a gang of drug dealers in Hackney, London - an honest and gripping rendition of inner-city drug and gang culture.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, suspenseful, rough, crime drama, dramatic, anime, hood, tense, bleak
Similar in 88%
Peaky Blinders (2013)
Plot Summary:
A gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 621000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 2109 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, tense, stylized, captivating, clever, suspenseful, rough, historical drama, realistic